Medical records of a patient often include imaging data, such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MM), X-ray, ultrasound (US), and Computed Tomography (CT) images. The medical images are typically obtained in connection with a trauma or disease diagnosis, and may include multiple related medical images taken at different stages of the patient's treatment. The multiple images can also include multiple imaging modalities, i.e. the images are obtained using different imaging technologies.
It is advantageous to have as much of a patient's image data as possible available to a practitioner, for assessing the patient. Institutes such as hospitals incorporate computer-implemented systems to store and provide image data to practitioners. An example of a commonly used system is PACS (picture archiving and communication system). PACS is a healthcare technology that captures and stores medical images from multiple modalities, and allows retrieval and viewing of the images. One problem with PACS is the lack of interoperability of different PACS systems, for example a PACS deployed by an emergency unit of a hospital may not communicate with PACS deployed by the radiology or pathology unit of the same hospital, and different health institutes may deploy PACS that are non-interoperable. Thus, the image data collected by one health unit is not easily accessed by another health unit. A PACS also requires a medical professional, such as a radiologist, to review and interpret the image data and create a structured report. Further, there is no quality control on the images stored in a PACS.
In assessing outcomes, such as a patient status, medical treatment effectiveness, health institute success and medical practitioner performance, it would be ideal to have all medical images related to a patient accessible from a single access point, and to be able to ascertain the reliability of the medical image data.